By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
The start of Friday night’s showdown between Section V Class A2 unbeatens was still a good 20 minutes away and a Greece Athena fan was watching the Canandaigua Academy Braves – clad in their traditional gray, red and white – warm up.
“I forgot how much they look like Ohio State,” the fan said.
The fan – and Athena – found out the Braves play a little like the Buckeyes, too.
Canandaigua’s quick-strike offense blitzed the Trojans for touchdowns on the first two plays from scrimmage and the Braves built a 28-0 lead in the first quarter before cruising to a 41-7 victory at Athena High School.
Quarterback Bryan Boldrin threw scoring passes of 85, 60 and 36 within his first five attempts and finished 6-of-10 for 314 yards in the first half with four TDs along with his own 48-yard interception return for a touchdown.
It was over before Athena knew what hit them; or, in this case, ran past them.
“Our coaches always preach smacking them in the mouth early, getting on defense, stopping them, and then doing it again,” said senior Jaxon Grant, who twice raced behind the Trojans (2-1) secondary to score on passes of 60 and 36 yards during the first-quarter offensive blitz.
And maybe most amazing: The Braves (3-0) had been a run-first offense a 41-14 opening-week victory over Eastridge and a 47-21 Week 2 win over Brockport.
Which is why Athena made it a point to stop the run. They loaded the box and weren’t about to get beat on the ground.
“We definitely thought their running game was going to be something to focus on,” Athena coach Mike Husdan said.
The Braves, however, read it and countered. Their first play from scrimmage was a play-action pass, with Boldrin faking a handoff before pulling it back, moving right and tossing to Brady Comella in the right flat. He turned the short pass into an 85-yard touchdown jaunt and a 7-0 lead.
“It’s just a matter of seeing how the defense lines up and then taking it from there,” Boldrin said. “Obviously they loaded up the box, so the passing game was there.”
After forcing a three-and-out and punt on Athena’s next possession, Canandaigua started from their own 40. This time on first down, Boldrin three deep down the middle to Grant, who was wide open and glided into the end zone on the 60-yard catch-and-run.
Then on the next play from scrimmage, Athena quarterback Jayden Rapp was intercepted by Boldrin, who darted 48 yards for the 21-0 lead after just 4 minutes and 59 seconds had been played.
Canandaigua extended the lead to 28-0 on its next possession, driving 81 yards in seven plays, capped by the 36-yard strike to Grant.
“We want to be balanced but there were some things that were open in the passing game and we were able to execute early,” Braves coach Jeff Welch said. “We were going to stick with what we do. We’re able to run the ball, we’re able to pass the ball.”
Even when Athena had Canandaigua backed up, the Braves passing game connected. On third-and-32 at their own 13, Boldrin threw deep down the left sideline, Tysheed Crockton caught the ball around the Athena 40 and kept right on going for an 87-yard touchdown.
The teams traded second-half touchdowns. Ryan Gavette broke two tackles then turned the corner and sprinted away for a 60-yard scoring run and 41-0 lead with 3:23 left in the third quarter before Connor Osier ran 23 yards for a touchdown on fourth down early in the fourth quarter.
As a result, Canandaigua’s winning streak against Section V opponents has reach 20 games, and that includes a 48-21 victory over Athena during last year’s spring season.
So for Husdan, this Week 3 matchup was a chance to see how his young team compares.
“It’s one of the best, if not the best teams in our sectional class,” he said, “and from the second quarter on it was a 7-7 game and our kids did what they needed to do. We have some positive things to build on.”
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